POLITICIZATION OF ISLAM AS A SOCIO-POLITICAL THREAT TO THE WORLD

Abstract

The study reveals the essence of the concept of religion, its functions, and its influence on the world. The processes of politicization and radicalization of Islam, especially in Muslim countries, are described. The essence and stages of development of religious organizations, radical currents, such as Salafi organizations are analysed. The main reasons for the emergence and increased politicization of Islam in modern conditions are emphasized. The basic factors of the growing gap between Sunnism and Shiism in clas- sical Islam are highlighted. Given that there are many Sunnis in the world, they often do not recognize the Shiite school, calling its adherents heretics, and in some countries – second-class Muslims, the root cause of this split was not religion (their main dogmas are common), but a struggle for influ- ence and power. It is determined that the well-known international reli- gious-political association «Muslim Brotherhood» came to power in Egypt and Tunisia immediately after the «Arab Spring», removing Salafists from political power, although they began to actively move to other Arab coun- tries, where political unrest continued. The events in Syria are analyzed, where Salafists and Islamists from all over the region gathered and declared a sacred jihad to the ruling regime of Assad. A little later, a worldwide sa- cred jihad was proclaimed in Damascus, after which jihadists began to ar- rive from all over the world, including from Europe and America, and as a result – the formation of the «Islamic State». The iranian researcher Mehti Sana proposed an interesting interpretation of the causes of the politiciza- tion of Islam in the early XXI century.